Wild center Mikko Koivu checks the tape on his stick during the first period before a face off against Tampa Bay on January 4, 2014 at the Xcel Energy Center Arena in downtown St. Paul. (Pioneer Press: Sherri LaRose-Chiglo)

Mikko Koivu, scheduled to captain the Finnish hockey team in Sochi, Russia, will not participate in the Olympics because of lingering problems from an early January ankle injury, the Wild captain said Friday.

Instead, Koivu will rest with the hope of being healthy for the Wild’s next practice, Feb. 19. “That’s definitely the goal,” he said.

Koivu had maintained over the past three weeks that he would be ready to play for his country in Sochi, and he had started skating on his own. But the injury didn’t heal as quickly as he hoped, and the Wild said they didn’t want Koivu playing in the Olympics if he wasn’t completely healthy.

It was the worst possible timing, Koivu said. Doctors told him that had the injury occurred a week earlier, he would be joining fellow NHL players on chartered planes Sunday headed to Sochi.

“I just don’t feel healthy enough to feel that I can play at the level that I want,” Koivu said. “I really think it’s not fair for my teammates with Minnesota, with Team Finland, the management in Team Finland and, most important, it’s not fair for myself, either.”

Koivu said it became clearer in the past week that playing in the Olympics was going to be a stretch. He had been skating with strength and conditioning coaches but found the pain would worsen after 10 or 15 minutes on the ice.

“I’d have a good day, then the following day it would be worse,” Koivu said. “I haven’t been practicing with my team that’s here, and I just don’t think it’s fair to anyone to play for Team Finland.”

Koivu has missed 15 games since he fractured his ankle blocking a puck in a Jan. 4 game. He had surgery on Jan. 6. Despite appearing in just 44 of the Wild’s 59 games, he is third on the team in points with 35.

“I thought I would be going to Sochi right now if you asked me that three weeks ago,” Koivu said. “Now I’m just going to go day by day and make the plan with the doctors and the trainers, and then keep working on it and try to get better and stronger each and every day.”

Koivu was set to take over the captaincy for Team Finland, the position previously held by his brother, Saku. But he also is the captain of the Wild, and he acknowledged that his responsibility to his NHL club played a role in his decision to pass on the Olympics.

Had Koivu gone to the Olympics and aggravated his injury, there would’ve been a backlash within the organization.

“For sure, it was one of the things that I thought about,” Koivu said. “I want to make sure that I’m 100 percent healthy and be ready to go as good as I can be when the puck drops here after the Olympics.

“There’s lots of things that you have to go through before you make the call, but that was definitely one of them.”

The NHL’s participation in 2014 Games was never a slam dunk, and the owners and players will have to agree to split the 2018 before commiting to the next Games. That made the decision it more frustrating.

“It’s hard,” Koivu said. “Obviously we’ve (Finland) been having lots of success in the past, and the feeling to represent your country, especially in the Olympic Games, it’s something as an athlete that doesn’t happen very often and who knows if it’s going to happen again?”

Chad Graff joined the Pioneer Press in April of 2013 -- long enough to cover three straight Wild playoff exits at the hands of the Blackhawks -- after working for the Philadelphia Inquirer and Boston Globe. He's lived in California and Texas, but most recently spent a decade in New Hampshire. He watched New England fans celebrate seven championships in his time there, yet somehow his only sports allegiance lies with Nebraska football.

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